Biology:Hakawai (genus)

From HandWiki
Short description: Extinct genus of birds

Hakawai
Temporal range: early Miocene to middle Miocene 19-16 Mya
Scientific classification edit
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Genus: Hakawai
De Pietri et al. 2015
Species:
H. melvillei
Binomial name
Hakawai melvillei
De Pietri et al. 2015

Hakawai is an extinct genus of prehistoric birds that lived during the early Miocene to middle Miocene in New Zealand. According to a 2015 paper, Hakawai melvillei was a representative of a large group of birds that comprises the seedsnipes of family Thinocoridae) and the plains-wanderer (family Pedionomidae). This discovery sheds light on evolutionary processes at work when South America, Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand were all parts of Gondwanaland.[1]

References

  1. De Pietri, Vanesa L.; Scofield, R. Paul; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; Hand, Suzanne J.; Worthy, Trevor H. (2015). "Wading a lost southern connection: Miocene fossils from New Zealand reveal a new lineage of shorebirds (Charadriiformes) linking Gondwanan avifaunas". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14 (7): 603. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1087064. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282853380.